


What The Heart Knows

by angelus2hot



Category: Stolen Women Captured Hearts (1997)
Genre: Community: love_bingo, F/M, Fluff, Het, Native American Character, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-22
Updated: 2013-05-22
Packaged: 2017-12-12 14:18:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelus2hot/pseuds/angelus2hot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna realizes where she belongs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What The Heart Knows

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** What The Heart Knows  
>  **Fandom:** Stolen Women Captured Hearts  
>  **Characters/Pairing:** Tokalah/Anna  
>  **Rating:** PG-13  
>  **Word Count:** 1,269  
>  **Summary:** Anna realizes where she belongs.

The sun beat down on his back as he walked his horse to the enclosure. Ever so often his gaze would stray to Anna the captive he had taken. Her hair burned like flames in the midday sun. He couldn’t stop looking at her. He didn’t want to. Every part of his body urged him to go to her and make her his but it wasn’t time. She wasn’t ready to accept him because she hadn’t moved on from her old life. At least not yet. But she would.

 

Sweat dripped into Anna’s eyes as she carried the water from the creek back to the tipi she now called home... No. This wasn’t her home. She must never forget that! What she wouldn’t give to be back to her real home and have all the comforts it entailed. And her husband! What must he be going through! But instead she was stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of savages. She slowly turned her head to take a peek at Tokalah, the one who had taken her, and although she was simply furious she still couldn’t deny he was very attractive.

 

Finally after the heat of the day, darkness fell and she was able to take refuge inside of the tipi. Tears filled her eyes and overflowed; falling onto her cheeks as she sat looking out of the opening wondering if her brother was searching for her... if anyone was searching for her.

“Anna?” He had been so silent she had all but forgotten that he was in the tipi too. 

She turned her head at the sound of her name.

As soon as he saw her tears Tokalah moved silently towards her. He reached out and captured a tear on his fingertip. “Why do you cry, Anna?”

_Was he serious?_ “Because you took me from my home; from my brother.” Her lips quivered as she spoke and she quickly turned away. 

His lips curled into a satisfied smile when she didn’t mention the husband she had left behind. “I gave you a better home and in time you will come to know it as well.”

She could tell by the tone of his voice that Tokalah really believed what he was saying. The problem was she didn’t doubt it if she wasn’t rescued soon. This way of life, and she had to admit Tokalah, suited her far more than it ever should.

 

Weeks and months passed by slowly as Anna learned the Lakota language and way of life. But that wasn’t all she learned. She also learned that Tokalah, who not only was extremely handsome, was an honorable man. But knowing that did nothing to quell the turmoil in Anna’s heart. She was a married woman in the eyes of God but she knew if she wasn’t careful she could fall in love with Tokalah despite all of it.

 

Eight months after her capture, just as the sun began to set shrill screams ripped through the air as arrows found their intended targets. Chaos reigned everywhere as people ran this way and that trying to dodge the arrows even as they tried valiantly to fight off their attackers.

Anna crouched down low in the grass, the water skins lay forgotten at her side. She didn’t know what was going on but she knew enough to stay hidden.

All sense of self-preservation left her as she spotted a warrior coming out of a tipi holding a small child. She didn’t know what he planned to do with the boy but she couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing. With the anger of a mother bear fighting for its cubs, Anna jumped on the warrior’s back and began to gauge his eyes with her fingers, forcing him to drop the child as he threw her off. She landed hard on her back in the dirt. Winded, Anna turned her head to see the child take off like a bolt of lightening for its mother before she slowly tried to stand.

But she didn’t make it back to her hiding place. “Tokalah!” Anna screamed as she felt the arrow pierce her chest. Pain shot through her body, blood seeped through her dress as her world went silent and she fell to the ground. 

 

 

Anna opened her eyes as the pain intensified throughout her. _What was happening?_ And then she remembered. She tried not to scream as the medicine man gripped the arrow and quickly pulled it through her body but the pain was so extreme she felt as if she were being ripped in two. 

“Why couldn’t she have stayed unconscious a little longer at least until the arrow was removed?” Tokalah wasn’t aware he had asked the question until the medicine man answered him. 

“The pain brings her back into this world.”

He placed a hand onto her stomach to hold her still. “Please. I can not lose her.”

“She is a strong woman. She fights to stay with you.” A few minutes later he finished dressing the wound and left without another word.

 

“Tokalah?” But before she could say anymore a horrible thought occurred to her and she tried to sit up. “The little boy?”

Gently, Tokalah eased her back down onto the pallet of skins. “Shh. Lie still. It is over now. We lost a few of the tribe and now the warriors are readying themselves for a counter attack but Laughing Boy is fine. He is safe with his parents who even now sing your praises to all who will listen.” He stared down at her. “Why did you risk your life?”

“He’s just a little boy. I had to do something. I had to try.” She gripped the skins in her hands as pain washed through her.

He kneeled beside her, worry written plainly on his face. “I am sorry.” He whispered so softly she barely heard him. “If I hadn’t come for you, taken you against your will, none of this would have happened. You wouldn’t have been forced to stay with me and you wouldn’t now be...” Tokalah swallowed back the emotion that almost choked him. He couldn’t stand to see her in pain but had to be strong for her. “As soon as you are better I will release you. I will take you back to your old life where you will be safe. In time you will forget all of this. You will forget about me.”

_Did he honestly think that was possible?_ Ignoring the pain, Anna slowly raised her hand and caressed the side of Tokalah’s face as she looked him in the eyes. It had taken her a long time but she finally realized what her heart had known all along. “You didn’t force me to fall in love with you. I did that all by myself.” She would never tire of touching him but her hand had a mind of its own as it fell to her side. “And you can forget all this talk of taking me anywhere. I’m not leaving you. I belong here with you.” Her eyes drifted closed as she finished speaking.

Tokalah’s chest tightened at her words. He couldn’t believe he was hearing those words after so long. Anna loved him. She wanted to stay with him. And although he knew if he were a better man he would insist on taking her back just to keep her safe but he wasn’t a better man. He was selfish when it came to her. Anna belonged with him.

“I love you, Anna.” He whispered as he kissed her softly on the lips.


End file.
